


Overheat

by down



Category: Magic Knight Rayearth
Genre: F/M, First Time, Post-Canon, everyone is grown up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-31
Updated: 2012-12-31
Packaged: 2017-11-23 04:11:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/617934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/down/pseuds/down
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Umi takes Clef to a ryokan - just to be absolutely certain no one will disturb them, this first time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Overheat

**Author's Note:**

> ...............I have no idea where this suddenly went HAH NO DETAILS but I am blaming Clef and going to try again later? ^^; ANYWAY I figure it's fluffy anyway. 
> 
> ........I need to stop writing the same themes over and over. XD

oOo

 

Clef knelt quietly on the thin cushion, watching moonlight play in the little courtyard, dancing on the rippling water in the small pool there and gleaming on the damp rocks that surrounded it. Water ran down over the rocks and back into the pool, filling the space between the dark wooden walls with a low, constant noise under the occasional rustling when a breeze slipped in to play among the ferns and bring a hint of cool to the air.

 

There was no other noise. Even the voices of the other guests had fallen still by now, late as it was, and this room was set far back from the road in this strangely long, thin building.

 

He shifted slightly on the cushion, not used to sitting on the floor like this, and tried not to fiddle with the robe that the guest house had provided. It felt decidedly flimsy to him, as clothing – the light fabric was only held  shut by a thin belt at his waist, but it _was_ cool; a blessing in this atmosphere. The dense, humid heat of the day lurked in the air even now, pressing and close.

 

The night smelt like damp moss, and sweet dry straw from the tatami mats that floored his room. Clef sat still and took deep, slow breaths, trying to let the warmth of the night wash over him without bothering him while he waited.

 

Not too long later there was the quiet scraping of a door sliding open across the garden. He blinked his eyes open to watch Umi step out, onto the little dark-wood walkway that edged the garden, and come across to him. The sandals she’d slipped into were also wood, and made a soft thudding noise against the old planks.

 

The robe Umi wore was identical to his, and the ends of the fabric swished apart as she moved, revealing a little of the pale length of her legs. It was nothing new, Umi wore skirts that floated above her knees frequently enough. But those tiny glimpses were somehow more of a tease than anything a more revealing outfit could have. Especially when he knew that today, the tease would be set aside – along with the robes.

 

Clef’s cheeks heated a little, and he pulled his eyes up to meet Umi’s face as she moved forwards. He wasn’t surprised to see her smiling at him, lips quirked up into something that was nearly a smirk, despite the light blush on her own face. Still, she didn’t stop; as soon as she stood before him, she leant down to press a soft kiss to his lips.

 

He tilted his head back to meet her. It  was a gentle, almost chaste thing, if you ignored the fleeting, teasing hint of Umi’s tongue flicking across his lips. A comfortable, familiar thing… but the angle wasn’t. Even though the floor of the room was higher than the one Umi stood on she was bent over a fair way, and she pulled back fairly swiftly, murmuring a greeting against his lips as she went.

 

Clef hummed a response, settling back to watch her.

 

Umi stepped out of the sandals and up into the room gracefully, before turning back and kneeling to set the sandals facing the other direction, ready to be stepped in. She didn’t look at him, but her smile was just a touch wider, a touch brighter. “It’s a nice night, isn’t it.” She murmured, keeping her voice low and soft enough that anyone still away probably wouldn’t hear it.

 

“Yes, it is.” Clef replied, not bothering to turn and inspect the night any more than he had already. He spoke quietly, too, strongly aware of the thin walls. As much as he didn’t particularly want to disturb anyone, he really couldn’t care less what anyone else might think about this; not when Umi was all soft light and shadows in the gloom, moving as smoothly as water ever flowed and smiling like that for him, for them.

 

Umi reached out, still knelt on the woven mat floor, and slid the door shut. The noise of the cascading water was barely muffled, but the light breeze was trapped outside, and the room felt several degrees hotter in an instant.

 

“…What if I was watching the moonlight in the pool?” He asked, feeling a smile spread across his own face, not a little amused.

 

Umi looked across at him now, through the dim shadows. “You needn’t have invited me inside for that.” There was a trickle of laughter running through her voice, barely held back.

 

“I think you’ll find that I did no such thing.” Unfolding himself took more thought than usual, as he was trying to keep the edges of his clothing where they should be.

 

“Oh?” Umi stood too, taking no such care. A line of her skin was revealed, from ankle to thigh, before the cloth fell back into place. “Am I unwelcome, then? I could leave if you want me to…”

 

Clef kept his eyes on her face. “Well, now that you’re here, I suppose you might as well stay… though I don’t know what I can offer in the way of entertainment…” Umi stepped forwards as he spoke, into his space, and he couldn’t stop the grin that ambushed him.

 

Umi snickered a little, but that line was apparently too easy, because she let it hang. Instead, she raised a hand to run over the smooth line of his sleeve, trailing down his arm. Her hand was startlingly warm through the cloth. “It suits you, Clef. Very elegant.”

 

His breath caught in his throat for a moment, and when he spoke again his voice was a little rougher than it had been. Still. “Very _flimsy_ ,” he retorted, batting her hand away. “And I thought your school uniform was bad, when we met.”

 

“Ah, but these are very… convenient.” She said, and the light blush on her cheeks was strengthening, even as she moved forwards again, and he let her. When she was still again this time, there was only a breath’s worth of air left between them, and it was heating up so that Clef could feel every inch of her presence in warmth pressing against his skin.

 

Clef shivered. Umi’s eyes were dark as she looked up at him, and her hand was brushing over the bare skin of his collarbone, pausing with barely the tips of her fingers pressed to him, over the pulse that throbbed in his neck. She tilted her head, leant forwards just a little more – just a fraction – until they were so close his skin was burning where they weren’t yet touching, and her lips were ghosting over his.

 

“ _Very… easy… access.”_

 

And she kissed him firmly, just as her hand pressed down flat and hot on his chest, and slid across his shoulder, down over his arm, sweeping the cloth of his robe away before it. Clef’s eyes fell shut as he leant into her, closing that last gap and not – _quite_ – moaning as Umi pressed against him, as her lips parted against his and her tongue flicked teasingly against his again. Her other hand was on his cheek, then his neck, and down his other arm. The material of the robe bunched at his elbows, practically trapping his arms, and he drew back from the kiss far enough to nip at her lower lip while he struggled his arms free, feeling at a distinct disadvantage.

 

Umi’s laugh was more felt than heard, and then he was leaning back in against her, arms free and drawing her closer. This was still new – anything acknowledged between them was still new, but they had kissed enough that she knew several ways to distract him, and seemed determined to use them. But her hands were slipping across the bare skin of his back, and that _was_ new.

 

Completely so, for her. (For him, it had merely been… a very long time.)

 

His hands caught on the belt holding her robe shut, and he slipped his fingers below it, leaned back just far enough to see her reaction. Her cheeks were red still, with a lingering embarrassment, but nothing more. She nodded, a little, then bit her lip on another laugh, and dropped her head against his shoulder, pressing her forehead against his neck.

 

He pulled the belt loose and let it fall aside, slid his hands inside the cloth of her robe and rested his hands back where they had been, at her waist, but this time there was no barrier between them; just skin, warm with the season and scented just faintly from the baths. “…Umi?” He asked, softly. Because this had been her plan, all through, but that didn’t mean they had to-

 

Teeth bit down on the tendons where his neck met his shoulder, and Clef yelped, head falling back and his hands tightening. He could feel Umi grin against him, then she licked carefully over the tender skin she had marked, and his breath shuddered in.

 

Sweat was beginning to trickle down his back. Umi traced the line of his throat with teeth, tongue, and he was holding on to her for balance now as much as anything, his hands pressing against the smooth muscles of her back, trapped in the heated air between cloth and her body.

 

“…I think it’s time to take this off, if you want to wear it again later.” Umi murmured, and her hands were tugging at the belt holding the folds of cloth at his waist. He caught her mouth again with his own as he helped her push the robe away, kicked it across the floor – then her own, but she pulled back with a gasp at the last moment and caught it up again. Clef blinked at her as she dug inside the squared-off sleeve.

 

“Just a second, I just need – hah.” She dropped it again, and in her hand were a few foil packages which she had _very earnestly_ explained to him after one embarrassing – at the time, when they were just barely anything – afternoon, in which she quizzed him curiously on all the forms of contraception known to Cephiro. These were strange, but understandable, in a world without the spells or the herbs Clef knew.

 

Clef grinned, overcome by a wave of _fondness_ for her – for this girl who had insisted on telling him as much about _everything_ as she could before they came here to make the strangeness as easy as possible. Who had wanted to share her world with him, even if that meant excruciating conversations.

 

“Good.” He said. “We’ll want them, later.”

 

“…Later?”

 

She was watching him almost warily, the embarrassment forgotten already though she was in nothing but her underwear, and neither was he. Clef reached out for her hand, and pulled gently until she stepped with him, back to where the thin mattress had been unrolled on the floor, and he drew her down to it.

 

“Later.” He promised, and he bent his head down and licked the sharp line of her collarbone, tasting salt, and more;  a flavour he could take his time exploring while she hissed and lay back, hands shifting restless on his arms.

 

Here, away from everything which could demand their attention but each other, they had all the time they could want.

 

oOo

 

The packets did get used, eventually, once they were both so overheated that even the still air of their room felt like a relief, but still they wound insistently together.

 

Umi laughed when he couldn’t open the first, and once she had everything was so easy – the last tension and nervousness eased by his fingers and mouth. And he was glad, fiercely so, that this first time for them – for her – was in her land, and away from any need to keep magic leashed, any dividing of concentration.

 

That they were both free to let go of any remnants of control with each other.

 

The summer night was short; the pre-dawn light began to glow through the paper lattice of the walls while they were still awake, though barely. The promise of another hot day, together - and none of the interruptions of home.

 

Clef smiled, and finally closed his eyes. He was looking forward to it.

 

oOo


End file.
